Charles Reinke Comes in First and It's too Hard to Come Up With a New Headline Every Week

1st Charles Reinke went 4-1 +252, good enough for first place on a night where nobody went undefeated. His lack of undefeatedness can be attributed to Lynda Finn, who handily crushed him, 516-347, despite Charles' 98-point phony OVERINGS. Lynda played STUIVER, REALISE, and COSTUME (the last of which being an out-bingo making COVERINGS); Charles added the nine-letter ENTREPOTS to the list of bingos. Simultaneously to the administration of that beating, Charles administered a beating of his own, defeating Helen Flores 550-222. Charles shamelessly phonied again with REBELING, and his two valid bingos of CESTODES and THORNIER did little to repair the burnt bridges. In the final game of the night against the undefeated Peter Schmiedicke, playing for not just some of the marbles but ALL of the marbles, Charles emerged victorious, 399-371, neither score being quite up to the usual standards of either player. Peter got down INSTATE and NIDATES, proving the utility of the SATINE stem; Charles had GRAPLINS (n. a small anchor, anagramming to SPRINGAL and SPARLING).

2nd Aaron Bader finished at 3-1 +470, averaging a club-leading 446 per game. Lynda Finn again proved to be an accomplished spoiler of other people's undefeated records, as she provided Aaron his only loss, 388-385. Lynda played SKITTER (66) and ROSARIES (59); Aaron had IODATION (58), proving that you're not going to score over 400 if your bingos are that wimpy. Aaron's bingos against Mary Becker (PUREEING, LOBSTERS, PEDANTS) were anything but wimpy, and the result was naturally a 507-244 victory. Another trio of bingos (UNIONIST, TORMENTS, and BUSTARDS) was utilized to maximum efficiency against Andy Bohnsack, who also was allowed to sample the bitter taste of defeat, 393-425. Andy did get down RATIONED for a decent score, so the bitter taste was cut slightly.

3rd Thomas Reinke ended his night with a 3-1 +137 record, edging out Peter Schmiedicke by six spread points for third place. He started off on the right foot with a 391-296 win over Gail Salm, but played just one bingo, GOOLIES, perfectly balancing Gail's sole RESENTS. He would up his bingo production significantly against Lynda Finn, winning a high-scoring 463-431 contest thanks to finds of REDEYES, GIRASOLE, and the odd-looking MACABRER. His opponent supplied DRASTIC and ORNITHES (the difficult anagram of HORNIEST). A 391-431 defeat against his stunt double ensured that no player would go undefeated. Thomas got down WIDOWED in that one after his two-tile fishing play led to a WW draw; Charles found MISTIER and TAURINES after his attempts to cultivate bingo racks worked to perfection.

Peter's CERVEZA was word of the week.